Traveling Tuesdays #27 New Years’ Day 2019

Wales

Traveling Tuesdays for today is going to a country starting with the Letter ‘W’. We are going to one of the four countries that makes up the United Kingdom. The country we will be traveling to is Wales.

The national flag of Wales consists of a red dragon, standing with one foot raised, on a green and white field. The flag incorporates the red dragon of Cadwaladr, King of Gwynedd, along with the Tudor colours of green and white.

It wasn’t until 1959 however, that it became officially recognized as the national flag of the country. The Red Dragon now flies proudly over public and private buildings throughout Wales.

The link will take you to a You.tube video, which tells you more about the Welsh flag.

According to the Welsh Language Use Survey of 2013–15, 24 percent of people aged three and over living in Wales were able to speak the Welsh. Welsh is one of the Celtic languages. The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gave the Welsh language official status in Wales, with English being de facto official. The Welsh language, along with English, is also a de jure official language of the National Assembly for Wales.

Here is a Latin language lesson for you!
In law and government, de facto (Latin: de facto, “in fact”), describes practices that exist in reality, even if not legally recognized by official laws. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with de jure (“in law”), which refers to things that happen according to law.

I had the opportunity to travel to Wales on two occasions.

The first trip included a visit to see the parents of a friend in my church who had moved to Lethbridge, AB Canada from the UK with their young family.

Wendy’s parents lived in a village called Rhoose which is the location of Cardiff Airport. The airport was formerly RAF Rhoose. Mr. McKinley worked for one of the original airlines that joined together to form the British Airways. I believe Mr. McKinley was in the RAF as was my dad but Dad was in the Canadian RAF and both men served during World War II.

I don’t remember how I traveled to Rhoose but I am pretty sure it was by train. Rhoose is near the sea and is located on the Bristol Channel in the Vale of Glamorgan.

The Vale of Glamorgan is often referred to as The Vale. Its economy is based largely on agriculture and chemicals. The largest town is Barry and there are many villages in this county borough.

The Vale is also the location of Atlantic College which is one of the United World Colleges. Here is the main building of Altantic College.

Cardiff is the capital of Wales and the largest city. In the early 19th century, Cardiff was prominent as a major port for the transport of coal. Cardiff was made a city in 1905 and was proclaimed the capital of Wales in 1955. There are many sporting venues in the city and the Principality Stadium hosted 11 football matches as part of the Summer Olympics in 2012.

My second visit to Wales took place while I was living in Dublin with my sister Ruth. We took a ferry from Dublin to Holyhead in Wales.

The route through Wales was full of spectacular views. We drove her car to London to meet our parents who were coming to the UK to join us in a holiday trip to see the sights in England, Scotland and Ireland and to visit some of the places Dad had been when serving in England in WWII.

Perhaps the most well-known use of the word Wales, is the title “Prince of Wales“. The tradition of conferring the title “Prince of Wales” on the heir apparent of the monarch is usually considered to have begun in 1301, when King Edward I of England invested his son Edward of Caernarfon with the title at a Parliament held in Lincoln. The title is granted to the heir apparent as a personal honour or dignity, and is not heritable.

The eldest son of Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, is the current and longest-serving Prince of Wales. The wife of the Prince of Wales is entitled to the title Princess of Wales. Prince Charles’s first wife, Diana, used that title but his second wife, Camilla, uses only the title Duchess of Cornwall (or of Rothesay when in Scotland) because the other title has become associated with Diana.

I trust this week’s episode of Traveling Tuesdays helped you learn a little bit more about Wales. The scenery is beautiful, the people are gracious, and I am guessing this country is one all of you should add to your bucket list.

Be sure and come back next week to join me in a place that starts with letter ‘X’.